


Just Let Me Spin My Wheels

by insertusername



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Love at First Sight, broken boards, cliches, late summer nights, scraped knees
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8785543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertusername/pseuds/insertusername
Summary: Almost everyone wants summer to last forever so it can be packed with as many late nights, city lights, and bar fights as possible. Be careful what you wish for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fell In Love With A Girl - The White Stripes  
> Shake Me Down - Cage the Elephant  
> Help! - Howie Day  
> Kids - Kyle Dixon  
> Raise A Little Hell - Trooper  
> 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins  
> Jefferson Airplane - Relient K  
> Kids Two - Kyle Dixon  
> Hey Jude - The Beatles
> 
> No particular order, but here's my listening tracks for when I'm writing.

Peridot would not remember much from the moment It Happened. She would never remember what move she’d finally landed perfectly, she would never remember what race she had won that day. She would never remember what flavor gatorade she had been kicking back or if she had even eaten that day. She would never remember what day of the week it was or exactly what hour or what made her look up to begin with. 

She would remember that she had bruised both knees and the palm of her left hand was scraped from catching herself on the grit of the concrete hours earlier in the day. She would remember that her board bumped against the leg of the bench she was sitting on and she would remember the sting of the sunburn sinking in to her shoulders. Most of all she would remember how all of these things came together as time froze and she saw across the dipping pipes and raised rails to the other side, a girl walking the perimeter of the park. She would remember the girl’s skirt whipping around her legs threatening to lift too high and the crop top clinging to her chest and the pair of chucks held absently in one hand so she could feel the heat of the pavement on the soles of her feet. 

In time these things might be forgotten too, but burned in her memory forever was the way the girl looked back at her and their eyes locked. Their eyes locked for just a minute and that was all Peridot could see, the girl’s short, salt waved hair fluttered in the wind and obscured the rest of her face. Peridot didn’t need to see the rest of her face. Two eyes heavy lidded and deep, shining in the golden light of the setting sun.

Peridot would remember the way that gaze froze her in place and left her staring like a child as the girl then slowly turned and kept walking the perimeter and stopped by a boy tying on a pair of sneakers. When the boy stood up he slung a pair of skates over his shoulder and the two walked out, the girl still holding her shoes. Peridot stared after her without noticing Jasper calling her name. She was dead to the world.

“Peridot….? Peridot?” Jasper raised her voice, amused. “Peridot!”

She jumped, turning around to see Jasper standing behind the bench giving her a weird look.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jasper looked up as she asked, trying to find what Peridot had been staring at until she looked just beyond the gates at the girl and the boy. She frowned. “Come on, its your go.” She said and walked over to the pipe they always congregated in at the end of the day.

Peridot looked back at the girl and watched her turn a corner out of sight and stood. One last glance over her shoulder as she went to join her friends. The girl was still out of sight but Peridot had a strange feeling that she wasn’t gone.


	2. Chapter 2

The smell of frying chicken and grilling beef coated everything in the restaurant. It smelled good, sure, to the guests maybe. To the servers who took it home steeped into their clothes it was almost nauseating. 

Peridot leaned against a counter in the alley staring at the clock mounted on the wall. Two… Just two o’clock. How was it only two? She’d been here for ten years. This just wasn’t fair. Four o’clock would never come.

“Peridot!” Connie poked her head in. Peridot turned and gave her a tortured look. “You’re down at fifty one. It’s just Steven.”

Connie disappeared out of the doorway just as quickly as she had appeared. She was Peridot’s favorite host so it wasn’t so awful when she delivered the bad news.

Peridot pushed off the counter and nudged the swinging door open. When she turned the corner, that was when Peridot saw them. Down the row of booths she could see short faded blue hair and a young boy Connie’s age sitting and laughing at her table.

Oh… oh god.

Her stomach flipped.

Was it the same girl? It was the same kid, Peridot recognized him now that he was closer. He was Connie’s best friend- almost boyfriend Steven. But was this the same girl from the park? Peridot had never seen her before, she hadn’t noticed the hair yesterday.

“H-hey Steven,” Peridot’s voice stuck in her throat a little when she reached the table. “How you doing today?”

Once she had gotten actual words out Peridot risked the glance at the girl.

Big brown eyes looked up at her from under thick lashes. The girl blinked slowly, holding Peridot in her gaze. Peridot felt like she’d been socked in the solar plexus the way the breath was sucked from her lungs.

“Pepsi!” She heard Steven chirp happily. Had he been saying something else?

“Lemonade, please.” The girl said.

Oh god, her voice was smooth and had a sort of music to it. 

Oh no.   
Oh god, it fit her perfectly. Peridot wanted to listen to her say something else, more things, any things. God she was so-

“Strawberry or regular?” Peridot heard herself ask.

The girl looked up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. “Strawberry.”

Peridot wanted to hear her say that again too. Instead of asking something else for the sake of hearing the girl talk Peridot shut her order book and hurried to the wait station to punch the orders in. 

After getting the pepsi from the alley she stood tapping her foot at the bar counter waiting for the bartender to make the damn strawberry lemonade.

“Amethyst, come on!” She said, leaning on the counter.

Amethyst held up a hand to tell her to cool her jets and Peridot groaned quietly. Amethyst was talking to the mayor who frequented her counter on the week days. He always sat alone at the bar and he was usually the only customer in the whole place when he came in. He never drank, he just liked sitting and talking to Amethyst who would listen to every long story he rattled off just like he was now. 

“So I guess we’re doing the back packing trip this year,” Mayor Dewey was saying to her as he looked down at the remainder of his mashed potatoes. “I don’t know why he feels the need to fly off every single summer-“

“I mean I think it’s a college kid thing.” Amethyst interrupted as she walked over and got the glass for Peridot’s drink.

Oh so today the topic was Buck.

The topic was always Buck when it came to school calendar breaks. Peridot almost felt bad for not anticipating the topic change.

“It’s like he can’t be in the same house-“

“Nah, nah, nah, that’s not it.” Amethyst was quick to reassure him. “Kids just gotta be free to explore, right Peri?”

“Oh yeah,” Peridot replied like it was obvious. Amethyst put a whole strawberry into the drink as a reward for the support. “If I could go to…”

“South America.” Amethyst supplied.

“Oh my god, South America? Oh yeah I’d totally go if I could.” In truth Peridot didn’t want to go to anywhere that wasn’t the skate park but if Amethyst needed back up in cheering up the Mayor then Peridot would supply it.

Peridot provided moral support and Amethyst made her drinks twice as pretty. Not a bad trade.

“See? It’s an exploration kind of thing. Just gotta let kids be free, my dude.” Amethyst leaned on the counter and shrugged at the mayor.

Peridot swept quickly around the high tops and back to the main dining room. She set the drinks down in front of the girl and Steven.

“You guys decided on something to eat?” Peridot asked, trying not to stare at the electric blue hair.

“Yeah, I want this thing, the chicken tenders and french fries.” Steven said and Peridot scribbled it down.

“And for you?” She turned to look at the girl pulling the strawberry from her drink.

“I want the club sandwich but with broccoli instead of the fries.” And the girl sank perfect white teeth into the strawberry as she watched Peridot with big brown eyes.

Peridot felt her heart skip a beat and felt like she needed to lay down for a minute. She turned all her attention to her server book as she wrote the order down like it was the word of God himself.

“Okay we’ll have that ready for you in just a second.” Peridot managed to get out before hurrying off. She thought he heard Steven say thank you. She wasn’t sure.

Peridot hid in the kitchen while the food was being made. Twelve minutes, she didn’t care if she was sat and there was someone waiting for her. If the manager got mad she’d just argue that they shouldn’t have sent the other closer home. She hid there in the alley until she had both plates on a tray and paused at the door to take a deep breath before kicking it open and walking out onto the dining room floor. 

Both plates made it to the table in tact because she refused to look at either of the people in the booth. Cursory look over the table, drinks are good, food is right, look up, both look pleased.

“Anything else I can get for you?” Peridot asked, glancing between them.

“Actually, can I have another strawberry?” The girl asked, a shy look crossing her face. “If it’s no problem.”

“Sure.” Peridot’s voice sounded something like a squeak so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Sure, its no problem.”

When Peridot sat down the three ounce ramekin on the bar counter Amethyst gave her a look.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” She asked.

“I need like, three strawberries.” Peridot said.

“Why? I’m not supposed to just give these out.” Amethyst said but Peridot already knew she would do it anyway.

“Guest request.” Peridot shrugged. 

“Was it Steven? I thought I saw him walk in.” Amethyst smiled and leaned on the counter as she speared the strawberries with a fruit skewer and dropped them into the little cup.

“Yeah its him.” Peridot looked up and saw that Mayor Dewey had left. 

Oh no.

“I think I might go say hey to him,” Amethyst said, trying to plan out what to do with the rest of her time now that her regular was gone.

“No, no, they’re eating.” Peridot said too quickly.

“So? That’s the best time to talk to them.” Amethyst’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s with you?”

“Me? Nothing.” Peridot answered quickly.

“Wait, who is ‘they’?” Amethyst asked, glancing over towards the fifties.

“Steven and his friend.” Peridot answered quickly. She didn’t want to think what would happen if Amethyst saw the girl at the booth. 

“Friend? I thought he and Connie were committed as monogamous friends.” Amethyst had known Connie before she was a host. She’d been trying to push the two friends together for months now, apparently.

Peridot just waved a hand at her and ran the berries back to the booth.

“Here you are.” Peridot set the little ramekin down at the edge of the table.

“Thank you so much.” The girl said as she reached for them. “I love strawberries.”

“O-oh, well, they’re pretty good.” Was all Peridot could think to respond. “I-its no problem.”

“Well hello, hello, hello.” The voice behind her made Peridot jump. Amethyst had immediately followed after her.

“Hey!” Steven beamed as Amethyst stepped out from behind Peridot.

“Right, well, I’ll be by to check on you in a few minutes.” Peridot said to excuse herself and even though she hurried she still saw Amethyst giving her a wicked grin.

 

 

Peridot hid in dry storage. She didn’t care if she was sat again, which seemed to be a developing theme for the day. She dug through her check slips and added up a solid sixty dollars from the earlier lunch rush. Thank god for five tops and early pops.

But that only took a few minutes and she sat staring at the boxes of soda bags and prayed for death. She wasn’t sure which shift had been the one where she started longing for death but it just became a thing. Just a thing that everyone did. Something about serving just made you want to wish for death for the duration of the shift.

Probably because at two thirteen an hour they were basically legal slave labor. That and Shania Twain on repeat. And Wonderwall every hour on the hour. And the way that smelling food made her forget when she actually was hungry so most doubles she’d go all day without eating anything and not even notice.

It was an easy job though, those things aside, and pretty good money.

Fast money.

No biweekly paycheck.

“Hey.” Peridot jumped when Amethyst poked her head in. “They were ready pretty quickly so I took their cash. Here.”

Peridot took the little wad of bills from Amethyst, half relieved, half sad to not see the girl again. 

But at least she didn’t have to worry about needing an ambulance.

“I wonder where that girl is from.”

When Peridot’s head shot up she saw Amethyst giving her a cruel smirk.

“I don’t know. She didn’t say.” Peridot replied. She pushed past Amethyst and walked through the kitchen with the bartender trailing behind her. “I didn’t ask.” 

“What, you didn’t want to know?” Amethyst leaned heavy on the counter and looked up at Peridot as she punched in her number in the terminal.

“I don’t really-“ Peridot shot her a look. “What?”

“Oh nothing, but you should go look at the table first.” Amethyst reached over and pressed the exit button once Peridot was distracted.

Peridot tried to punch her number in again but Amethyst batted her hands away.

“Go look.” Amethyst insisted and pulled a tray from behind the terminal and pushed it into Peridot’s hands.

Peridot rolled her eyes and pushed the door open and stalked around to the booth. To spite Amethyst she piled the plates on the tray without looking, followed by the drinks. 

“Notice anything?” Amethyst grinned at her and sank into the booth.

“No.” Peridot grabbed the napkins next and reached for the utensils and lastly the little ramekin. She paused.

“I’m no Sherlock Holmes but uh, seems to me like little miss manic pixie dream girl didn’t care about the strawberries without an audience.” Amethyst said as Peridot stared at the little cup of berries that was still full.

Peridot scoffed and grabbed it just like the rest and hurried off to the dish pit. Once she had dumped everything and gone back to the terminal she counted out the bills and punched in the payment. 

When she folded the money over to stick it in her pocket she paused when she saw a phone number scribble across a five in blue ink.

She stared at it for a minute then put the money in her shirt pocket.

The weird things people would just decide to write on bills that totally, definitely aren't meant for her. 

You just see the weirdest shit in this line of work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like the story so far? Drop me a line at ancient-absent-goddess on tumblr and hang out


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't condone violence but I won't deny its effectiveness.

The time spent at the park later that day was cut short. Jasper, Amethyst and Peridot left at midnight and made their way to an abandoned warehouse just outside of town for the annual end-of-the-year-start-of-summer rave. 

Peridot wasn’t much of a partier, preferring to spend all time outside of her dorm congregated in the skate park into the wee small hours of the morning instead of crowded in a hazy basement with drunk class mates. 

The rave was different. 

The students left in the town for the summer broke into an old warehouse that had burned down probably a decade ago. It was condemned but the demolition date didn’t ever seem to be decided on. This was probably due to the fact that Buck kept finding ways to sabotage the project. Peridot didn’t know the kid personally but she knew he founded the parties along with his friends Jenny and Sour Cream. According to the stories the three had started their yearly tradition as freshman in high school and every year even in college made it home in time to keep it going.

It was a labor of love. It was something special. This would be Peridot’s third year going and despite missing a night at the park she wasn’t mad. Without going to the rave it wouldn’t feel like summer really started. Not to mention she needed to jump around until she forgot about everything that wasn’t freedom. 

Jasper parked in the ruins of what had once been a parking lot but now more closely resembled a garden of every kind of weed except the fun one. Theirs was one of five cars. Bikes were propped against bushes and skateboards stacked just inside the door and a lone motorcycle.

… shit.

“Ugh, god,” Jasper grumbled.

“Oh can you just be cool?” Amethyst shot at her.

Peridot glanced at Jasper. 

“I won’t finish anything if she doesn’t start anything.” Jasper replied in a tight voice, pointing at Amethyst with the bottle of rum in her hand.

Peridot threw a tentative glance around the warehouse when they got inside. She didn’t see the bike’s owner anywhere, or-

“S would really appreciate it if you two would just-“

“I would appreciate it if you would drop the subject.” Jasper cut Amethyst off. The shorter girl raised her hands in concession. The music drowned out anything else they might say as they walked into the crumbling warehouse.

Peridot had only laid eyes on Pearl a handful of times. She had been friends with Jasper since freshman year when they were paired as roommates. Back then S would be over to see her sister almost every week. Peridot had liked those afternoons they’d spent rolling around the boardwalk and eating the worst kinds of junk food at one in the morning. It hadn’t lasted a second year.

She tried not to think about it as they skirted around the edge of the dancing crowd, using the flashing lights that Buck had probably “borrowed” from the town’s little theatre to try to find the alcohol. 

Buck was standing over the folding table like a silent sentinel. When Jasper put their bottle down Buck nodded once. 

The three of them picked their own cups and poured out shots of whatever they wanted. Jasper reached for her usual of whiskey, Amethyst for her usual of tequila, and Peridot her usual of rum. Someone had brought the coconut one. She felt as if she might cry.

“Cheers!” Amethyst called over the music and the three taped their cups together and kicked back their shots.

Peridot didn’t bother with a chaser.

She threw another glance around the room at the other students already losing themselves in the music. Sour Cream was up in the loft with his gear. It sounded like he found that game system to mix off of. 

Every year he had something new for them and every year he delivered. 

A hand closed around her wrist and Peridot was being pulled into the crowd. Despite not being much of a dancer Peridot would still dance at the rave. The crowd was thinner, the music was louder and everyone danced in their own way instead of trying to synchronize like the few times she’d been to a club.

Amethyst released her from the vice grip and instead took her hand, spinning her around. Peridot smirked at her and jerked her closer, twisting to trade places with her as a beat thumped out from the (probably also “borrowed”) speakers lining the dance floor. The crowd spread out to make room for them and kept dancing. At the end of the night they would all be spread across the warehouse instead of just the corner they started in. 

Amethyst spun around and motioned for Jasper to join them but she was deep in conversation with Garnet who was laughing. Peridot bumped her hip against Amethyst to distract her. It worked.

Peridot wasn't entirely sure what was happening with Jasper and Garnet but she wasn’t about to interrupt it. 

Just as she was losing all sense of being surrounded by people and the last little bit of anxiety that always invades the start of a night Peridot was pulled out of her reverie by multiple whistles and calls. Her eyes oppened, a shot of fear going to her stomach burned hotter than the rum.

No one was looking at her, relief flooded her. She looked around at people looking behind her, Amethyst staring dumb struck at somewhere over Peridot's shoulder. 

In the time it took for her to turn around one thought above all ran through her mind- please, God, don’t let it be Pearl and S.

What was behind her made her heart stop all the same.

The new girl was landing a spinning jump and dipping down to touch her ankles before flowing back up like water, arms reaching out and up as she spun again. In time with the thick beat of the music she some how kept a perfect ballet looking style- no, was it actually ballet? Contemporary? Jazz? 

Peridot knew just enough about formal dance to know that it wasn’t tap.

Whatever it was the movements of her hands had Peridot entranced. Until she ran them down the sides of her body and then Peridot was staring at her hips. Just as the girl leapt into the air, that’s when it happened.

Pearl appeared and caught her around the waist, holding her in place just a moment and set her down right into another spin. The girl didn’t pause, Pearl joined in. Nothing about the two of them was coordinated except for the style of their strange dance. 

Whatever it was, they were doing it well.

The other partiers started to return to their own dancing, caught in their infectious energy. Peridot was still staring when Amethyst tugged her arm, trying to pull her back to reality.

“Come on, Peri!” Amethyst tried to say over the music. 

But just as she was finding her groove again a hand on Peridot’s shoulder made her falter. Fingers trailed across her shoulders and down her arm. When she tried to turn to look back the hand had reached her own and twined their fingers together. Peridot was wrapped in the arms of the girl and she guided their movements together. 

It wasn’t like the times they had gone to clubs and some guy had just grabbed her and started grinding. There was no vice grip to keep her in place and there was no movements being forced on her.

The girl just gently held her and feeling the way she moved behind her Peridot found it easy to keep up with her for just a moment, saw Amethyst’s eyes the size of dinner plates, before she was spun around to face the girl. 

Her eyes were closed. Her hair was in her pretty freckled face. One hand was tangled in Peridot’s and the other was lifted posed in the air as she rolled her hips to the beat and it would have been easy to step closer again. It would have been easy to wrap an arm around her waist and pull this girl flush against herself and take over but Peridot could only stand and stare. 

Who the hell even was this girl?

Why had she looked at Peridot across the park yesterday?

Why had she asked for strawberries and not eaten them?

Why did she pick Peridot when there was a warehouse full of other people dancing around them? People who were infinitely better at dancing. Here this girl was dumbing down her own style to suit Peridot.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Peridot was about to find her voice when the girl stopped dancing.

She didn’t stop so much as she was pulled away but Peridot didn’t see the arm around her waist at first. A second later some dude had the girl around the waist, trying to direct her into a different kind of dance, a different style and she was trying to pull away.

 

Peridot would always remember the look on his face when she grabbed him by the coat collar to pull him around. She would always remember the landed punch feeling like the best dance she’d ever done. She would always remember the way he stumbled back and the way Pearl, as if it was planned, immediately grabbed him by the coat and dragged him off into the crowd. 

 

It took a minute for Peridot to remember the girl was still there. When she turned around the girl was standing still in the crowd, staring after Pearl. She must have sensed Peridot staring because their eyes met. 

The girl crossed her arms and disappeared. 

Peridot ignored Amethyst trying to ask questions and took off after her. Once she was clear of the crowd Peridot could see the girl walking quickly towards the exit. Peridot took off after her, dodging a few people milling around the outside of the crowd but couldn’t catch her before she got out the door.

“Hey!” Peridot said before she could stop herself. Outside the door she looked around, hoping her shout would have slowed the girl down. 

Not slowed but not running the girl was heading for the exit of the parking lot. Peridot took off at a sprint. The girl wasn’t getting away this time.

“Hey! Hey, wait a minute!” Peridot called after her and the girl slowed and looked back. “I’m sorry!”

She stopped.

“I’m sorry,” Peridot caught up to her, panting. “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t see him.”

“What?” The girl asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

“I could have warned you-“

“He was bothering me earlier. I should have told him to shove off.” The girl said, crossing her arms again.

“Well it’s not a real party until Kevin gets his ass beat.” Peridot tried to joke. 

“So is this a regular thing?” The girl looked almost angry.

“Well, no, not really. He’s just an ass, he always says something stupid.” Peridot explained. “Last year he yelled at a kid for almost scratching his car. He’s just rude.”

“Why don’t you just tell him to leave or not come?” The girl shuffled her feet.

Peridot shrugged. “Everyone’s welcome at the rave. It’s just the rule.”

The girl opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted by Kevin tearing out of the warehouse to get to his car. Pearl watched him from the doorway, shouted something at him as he fumbled with his keys.

“Come on.” Peridot nodded back toward the warehouse and shoved her hands in her pockets. “You wanna come back in?”

The girl looked from Kevin’s car pulling onto the street and away then back at the door then back at Peridot. 

Where was all that confidence? Peridot wondered as she watched the girl debating.

“What’s your name?” Peridot asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Lapis. Lapis Lazuli.” The girl said. 

“What’s your drink?” Peridot asked. “I promise you we have it.”

“I don’t drink.” Lapis replied, Peridot paused, scrambling for another way to say how she wanted Lapis to come back this time and not just disappear again, a way to say-

“I want to dance with you.” she said plainly, hoping the moment wasn’t gone.

Lapis looked up at the warehouse and the flashing lights behind broken windows and Pearl leaning in the doorway staring at them. Peridot was making a point to ignore her.

“Okay.” Lapis said with a nod. 

Peridot wasn’t sure what possessed her to do it but she pulled a hand out of her pocket and took Lapis’ in her own. The silence between them was comfortable as they entered the warehouse again. A sudden confidence had taken over and Peridot couldn’t be sure where it came from but she did know that she wanted to see Lapis having fun again.

Ten minutes later Peridot was trying to mirror Lapis’ dancing and they were both laughing.

Another ten minutes and they had given up and gone back to their own respective styles.

Thirty minutes later Peridot had Lapis pressed against herself and they were working out some sort of rhythm between themselves.


End file.
